A Rambling Election Post-Mortem

Election post-mortems are always more fun when your candidate wins. Mine didn’t. On the other hand, I wasn’t as much for Senator McCain as I was against Senator Obama. Notwithstanding that the media did everything but stuff the ballot box for Senator Obama, McCain ran one of the poorest political campaigns I can remember. At the end of the day, you have to be “for” something instead of “against” something. A candidate has to offer solutions, innovations, and yes…hope and change. McCain had no vision for America. That vision is particularly important this year as the nation faces some heavy duty financial issues, including the possible bankruptcy of General Motors…and there is no easy answer for that one.

The Republican Party went through the same thing when we ran Bob Dole for president. He was another true war hero who was demonized by the press, and his campaign was inept at overcoming it. McCain was Bob Dole redux, although he did have some inspiring moments that he failed to capitalize on. The “stand with me, fight with me, stand up for your country” ending to his speeches was terrific.

His selection of Sarah Palin was good and bad. She must have had something to offer as the press crucified her, and continues to do so. If she had nothing to offer, the press would have ignored her. She energized the conservative base. She will be an “up and comer” in the party, and will be a formidable opponent in 2012. On the other hand, she made McCain look even older and less inspiring than he actually was. Nobody showed up to see him. They showed up to see her.

This election also demonstrated that prejudice may be dead when it comes to skin color, but it is alive and well when it comes to age and gender. David Letterman should be ashamed of himself with his non-stop age jokes. They were mean spirited to the core. And to the credit of the press, the main stream media did a pretty fair job of spreading its gender attacks equally between Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. Sexism is alive and well in the nation’s news rooms.

So what does a right wing political junkie like me do now? Believe it or not, being a member of the loyal opposition can be great fun. I have had a few belly laughs already watching Ralph Nader call President-elect Obama an Uncle Tom, and Chris Matthews finally admit that it is his job to make sure the Obama presidency succeeds. His leg, and God knows what else, must still be tingling.

George Bush had several successes and some major failures. While his response to 9-11 was superb, his response to Katrina was a fiasco. While the war in Iraq was, and still is, right on the money in the foreign policy department, its execution was horrendous. While he was not responsible for sowing the seeds of the credit meltdown, it grew on his watch. And finally, he completely defaulted in establishing any energy policy whatsoever, which is center to all other problems facing our country today. He had a chance after 9-11 to lead the country out of the energy wilderness, and he didn’t.

While I truly hope that a President Obama will succeed in his presidency, if today’s press conference was any indication, it looks problematic. There is no doubt that he is an intelligent man, and I have no doubt that he has the best interests of the country at heart, but…rhetoric only goes so far. Any backpedaling on his issues will raise the ire of the left. It will be interesting to see how he handles Nancy Pelosi. She already one upped him by meeting with Presidents of Ford, GM, Chrysler, and the UAW. They went to see her, not him.

As for the GOP, it is time to revamp itself. The mid-term elections are off and running already, and the Republicans will be able to make up some lost ground. But to succeed, the Republicans must develop new leadership, younger leadership, more “colorful” leadership, and re-define compassionate conservatism. Its basic philosophy of individuals being responsible for their own destiny is more appealing than running to the government welfare window, corporate, individual, or otherwise, that is currently de rigueur in today’s political environment. It must define its conservative vision and redefine itself for the 21st Century. Can it be done? We did it for Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush, we can do it again. Obama only beat McCain by 1 percentage point more than Bush beat Kerry.

As for President Obama, the vagueness of today’s economic news conference reflects the reality of the situation. The possible collapse of GM, Ford, and Chrysler lays at the door of 40 years of screw-ups by corporate management, Democratic and Republican administrations, and union excess. The government will not be able to bail out everybody and everything. Fair or not, Obama will have to pick and choose who will benefit from government largesse. For every friend he makes, he will make two enemies. It will be under his presidency that the brunt of this economic downturn will occur. His political goal will be to turn it around before the next election cycle.

He can do it, but it will be at the expense of the vision he painted for America. If has the spine to do what needs to be done, he will make a believer out of me. I hope so, for his sake, and that of the nation.